Mail is an important means of distributing communications for many large organizations. To reduce postage costs, these large mailers seek to take advantage of postal discounts offered by the United States Postal Service (USPS). These discounts are generally offered if the mailer prepares its mail in such a way that it reduces the work and expense for the USPS to deliver the mail. For example, if a large mailer is willing to cleanse addresses, assign ZIPCODE information, and presort its mail into zip-code groupings of sufficient volume, then the mailer is entitled to certain postage discounts from the USPS.
An important way to reduce postage costs is to take steps to ensure the accuracy and quality of addresses printed on mailpieces. The USPS is sensitive to the fact that improperly addressed mailpieces can result in costly extra processing within the USPS delivery system. Accordingly, certain postal discounts are only available to mailers who can certify that the information included in the addresses is accurate, and that the format of the addresses is optimal for USPS automated processing.
In addition to increased postage expense from inaccurate addresses, misdirected or misdelivered mail can have an adverse impact on the effectiveness of the communication. For example, if the mailer is sending out billing statements, misdirected mail can result in lost revenues and customer dissatisfaction. Thus a mailer is motivated by its own business interests, as well as by potential USPS discounts, when striving to achieve accurate addresses.
For these reasons, mailers use address correction software on their mailing lists. Before granting postal discounts for address accuracy, the USPS requires that mailing lists be verified and cleansed by address correction software certified by the USPS' Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS). Finalist®, ForwardTrak™, and VeriMove™ software, available from Group1, a Pitney Bowes Company, are address list cleansing and updating products that assist mailers in satisfying CASS requirements.
Typically, the USPS requires that addresses be verified using a CASS certified address correction solution at least every six months, or 180 days. When an address list is verified in this manner, the date of the most recent verification is stored electronically and is associated with the list. By referring to the recorded date, the mailer will know when the next required list verification is required to maintain the postal discounts. Mailers frequently choose to perform verifications sooner than 180 days, in order to receive the other business benefits of an accurate address list.